Isolation
by Slaughter3211
Summary: Just my take on some darker sides of Kane and Aj's youth. Warning inhumane punishment Not the kinky kind and character death. But only one. Rated M for said one charater death. DARK AU!


**This is kinda dark, I wanted to do something different. I hope it turns out well. I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling pretty depressed lately. Don't know why but I've been reading some dark fan fics. And one I've never seen is about Isolation, I noticed this after I saw a documentary on it and I kinda wanna know what its like. Plus I've been lonely and ostracized lately so its fueling my darkened mood. Well I hope you like it, its about Kane and Aj, not a pairing just a comparision about their psyches. Takes place in their childhoods. Warning harsh and possibly inhuman means of punishment (And not the kinky kind)**

** Kane**

_Drip_.

Drip.

_ Drip._

And another torturously monotonous _Drip. _He was going mad, but refused to show it. He refused to allow Paul the satisfaction of his misery and insanity. His façade was all he had now a days, his pride , youth, happiness, relationships. Those were the first to leave him, after Paul had learned of this new _correctional_ _procedure_.

Isolation, he would rather be beaten than endure this. His body would heal, no doubts about that, but his mind can only take so much of this. He refuses crack, he needs his mask to survive to have some control over himself. And Paul knows this, Kane could be his mindless servant if he could just break that mask off.

Paul had a plan, Kane could tell when he was ushered into the padded cell. Normally he was thrown in-whether he struggled or not- and ridiculed of his monstrous appearance. But today he had been gently nudged into the room, giving a piece of hard candy for his cooperation, and patted on his head before the door was closed Paul giving him a _I'll_ _be_ _back_ _in_ _a_ _few_ _hours_.

This was strange, Kane pondered, trying to ignore the constant dripping that was playing through speakers. This was another technique Paul used to strip Kane of his façade, a recent one actually, Paul must be getting desperate if hes making changes so soon after the new installment. This almost made Kane grin with pride, but he knew it could mean he would endure a new and far worse punishment now if Paul was feeling his control slip.

Kane had many ways of coping when left to his own devices in the room. The first few hours he would train, doing push ups and cardio regimens, this was only so he could sleep well for the next few hours. If he was left here for several days- Which he usually is- he would hum to himself, his fire damaged vocal cords couldn't perform well enough for words or singing. Then, when he had hummed his favorite tunes to the point of boredom, he closes his eyes and just pretends. He pushes himself into a half dream world where he can fly and talk and play in beautiful meadows until he fell asleep under stars that whispered lullabies to him.

It was usually during these times that Paul intervened and forced him to train until he collapsed. Kane realized that this happened because when he woke from his peaceful reveries reality was jagged and his damaged mind would flinch and cower at even the softest whispers and Paul had a habit of yelling a lot. He had tried to do this early on in his isolation, hoping to gain freedom sooner, but Paul merely allowed him to frolic and play for hours ,even days, and when he did interrupt Kane was in an even more fragile state than usual.

Kane tried not to let his mind slip, for if he did so this early he would lose track of time, he could've adventured in his mind for hundreds of years and it had only been an hour in reality. He liked to call this the 'Narnia Effect' ever since he read the novels. He was almost lost, he was three years old again playing with his brother in an empty field, tall grass making their game of hide and seek more fun. Suddenly there was Paul, gently and sweetly pulling him out of his catatonic state.

"Kane, come on. Won't you wake up I have something for you." The fat blubbery man cooed. He had one hand behind his back, hiding Kane's present. Kane blinked up at his, eyes far away and licked his chapped lips. Paul smiled a terribly horrid smile and preceded to hand Kane the object he had been hiding.

It was a mask, red and burgundy, with a texture that resembled his burnt skin, leathery and crinkled. Kane began to fit the straps around his head, curious to see what it feels like. Paul's smile grew wider, as he began to coo in a sickly sweet voice once again.

"Now I can take you out in public, and no one will flinch from you hideous face."He taunted, voice still syrupy. "Won't that be nice, Kane? Children your age won't run in terror from you, everyone will just think your alittle boy having fun on Halloween." Was it Halloween already? When he had entered it had been three days until the sugar and costume fill event.

He had been in here for three days? And hadn't even known it! Kane could feel himself panicking, he had a routine. Paul had said he would be gone for a few hours, and three days have passed? Kane could feel his façade slipping, the literal mask on his face did nothing to hold his figurative mask to him. He hiccupped and for the first time since the fire-Seven years!- he cried. He exploded into tears, begging Paul to never leave him alone again.

Paul had given him a smile and promised that he would never bring him back to this horrible room ever again-if Kane promised to do everything he said. Kane hiccupped and allowed himself to be lead away by the much larger man. Paul said he was too upset to go trick or treating this year and told him to go to his room and take a nap before dinner.

Kane's ten year old mind was too damaged to notice the date on the calendar. It was the 27th, Halloween was on the 30th. Even if he did notice, it wouldn't have mattered, Paul knew this when the child came down still wearing the mask and the next day when Kane wore the mask not taking it off even once. Kane eventually put the pieces together but even so he didn't care. As long Paul never left him alone in that room again, Kane would never care. Paul had won.

**Aj**

She was crazy, even her parents said that. That's why she did this, because she was crazy. Why else would she do this? She could possibly enjoy this self alienation? That's what her doctors said. But Aj knew she wasn't crazy, she was just hurt and sometimes she needed to take time to be alone and heal herself. That's why she did this.

That's why she would drag all her pillows and blankets into the bathroom and shove them into the bathroom. That's why she stuffed the cabinets full of candy, beef jerky, granola bars, trail mix, peanut butter, and sodas. That's why she locked the door. That's why she only left her bathtub bed to relieve herself. She only removed the pillows and blankets to take a nice hot bath.

Her parents at first were concerned but she just said she wanted to be alone, it was her time of the month and she didn't have school anyways. Then her parents took her to the therapist. She tried to tell them she just felt emotionally battered and needed some downtime. They told her to go spend time with friends, to go watch T.V., and hell she should go to the spa if it was that bad. Her parents could afford a trip to the spa, just like they could afford these therapist who tried to bully her into doing it their way.

She had tried but she would just break down and cry. Then people started to stare and whisper about her. _She's mental. We should leave she obviously didn't take her meds. Come talk to us when you're normal again._ And she would run to the bathroom crying, sometimes forgetting her pillows and snacks. After hearing those things she would stay there all day, creeping out silently for her comforters and comfort food.

After a while her parents lost interest, preferring to focus on their businesses as lawyers. This upset her to the point she spent two weeks in her secluded haven, not even bothering to bathe, preferring to sleep for days on end awaking to feed herself before going back to her dreams. She dreams she is a pretty purple fairy and she lives in a tiny perfect little world all by herself. The flowers would sing her favorite songs and the stars winked at her and she needed no other comfort. She would drink from fruit flavored streams and eat chocolate covered strawberries found on pretty neon green bushes.

Her world was full of colors that made reality seem dull and life less. In her dreams bumble bees would dance with you and butterflies would play violins. The trees tucked her into bed at night and the moon would read her a bed time story. Her world was perfect and she needed nothing else, but something changed.

She had been having one of her normal spells-these were getting few and far between lately- and she had stopped on a wrestling show. Normally Aj would've changed the channel but she couldn't. The man on screen was intriguing, long wavy brown hair, muscular arms, tall stature, one eye was dark and the other was light blue. But she was captivated by the red mask on his face, it looked his skin had been burned, raised and then painted a bright red.

Soon her reveries weren't so fulfilling, she felt lonely in her wonderland fantasy. Her flowers were singing off key, the bumble bees would rather sting her than dance, the butterflies broke the violin strings, the stars glared at her with unimaginable fury, the trees refused to give her a blanket in the cold nights, and the moon told horror stories instead of her favorite tales. The stream had dried up and the bush held only hellish berries that made her ill. Aj needed a friend; she tried to bring in allsorts of new creatures: cats, dogs, horses, pandas, even fish. But it only got worse; her new additions began to fight with the old inhabitants.

Then _HE _showed up, he still wore his mask-though it seemed at brighter red than before. He brought harmony to her chaotic dreams. He showed her new places to travel: oceans that they could breathe under and swim with mermaids, deserts that they rode camels on them and the sun didn't sting like it should've rain forests with delicious foods, and mountains with deep snow for them to play in. Her world was perfect and she never wanted to leave.

She had to leave eventually though she was eating less and less. She left her nest fewer times each day and rushed back to it as soon as she could. Her parents talked about sending her off somewhere so she could get better. Aj's blood ran cold; no she couldn't leave her world. She refused! She just smiled at them, though it came off manic, and told them she would agree.

They didn't notice when she went back into her nest, they didn't notice Mrs. Lee's sleep aid pills were missing. Or perhaps they did notice, they did know what she was going to do, and they just didn't care. Aj couldn't blame them, they were jealous of her beautiful world. They wanted to take it away from her and they didn't care if she stayed there forever or not. They wanted control and maybe they had been bluffing about a mental ward. She wasn't sure and refused to take a chance to call their bluff. Maybe they knew she would do this? They wanted complete control over her; maybe they knew threatening her world would cause her to do this? Maybe they wanted to control her death even!

She felt her mind slit into two halve. One said they were lying the other said they weren't. She didn't know which side to believe. Suddenly she realized her friend would know what to do. He had to he knew everything! She visited him in her world bottle of meds left on the edge of the bathtub. She smiled as he kissed her gently and almost forgot what she wanted to ask her. Almost, She remembered and when she begged for his opinion he didn't answer at first. Suddenly she could hear something and rose from her bed feeling like she was hearing things underwater. Her ears emptied the water out and she recognized the sound of her parents. They were banging on the door, asking her to come out.

She realized with a panic that she had taken to long in her decision. They had finally noticed and she knew they wouldn't be bluffing this time. She heard his voice in the back of her mind. Pleading for her to come join him and never leave him ever again. She popped open the bottle and gulped down the pills dry. Almost choking on them as she struggled to swallow before her parents could stop her journey to her beloved.

Aj wrapped herself in the soft blankets, feeling herself decent into her dreams. But something was different, she didn't see him, she didn't see anything apart from the blackness. She panic. He had tricked her! She struggled to open her eyes, but just as she almost opened her left eye, he appeared and beckoned her forward. She hesitated for a moment, what if he was tricking her? But then he reached out and pulled her gently to him. And with that she closed her left eye tight.

She allowed him to lead her to her favorite meadow. The butterflies played their violins and the bees danced. In her bathroom, her parents kicked the door open and found their daughter dead with a genuine smile on her face. She was with her beloved, she had won.

**Okay so I lied there is some relationship in the second story, but hey it is all in her head. Anyways the man Aj kills herself for is Kane; hopefully you noticed that on your own. Well sorry for killing Aj but I think I needed to push her envelope a little more. Anyways I will be returning to my story Shivers soon, I need some inspiration. Well in this fic Kane is ten and Aj is oh I don't know lets say 16? I actually enjoyed writing this. It made me feel a lot better emotionally. Or maybe I'm just tired. Who knows? I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you enjoyed it enough to review!**


End file.
